Wise Words: Alessandra Ranelli
Photo ©️Saowalak Jan-Ardisorn
Vienna-based American author Alessandra Ranelli hit the bookselling headlines with a bang this week with two major publishing deals for her debut novel Murder at the Hotel Orient. In the UK it will be published by Baskerville (Hachette) and in the US by Scout Press (Simon & Schuster). The book will be the lead title of 2026 for both imprints.
I’ve been totally captivated by the marketing she’s masterminded for her book, a murder mystery, which is old-world Hollywood style mixed with modern-day sophisticated intrigue. Here is the pitch from her press release:
“Taking place in modern day Vienna, the book delivers all the thrills of a Golden Age locked room mystery, with a setting inspired by the real ‘love hotel’ in the city where cameras are banned, aliases are required, and every anonymous guest has something to hide. Ranelli’s debut stars Sterling Lockwood, the sultry and unforgettably charming concierge at the Hotel Orient, as she tries to solve the double murder of her ex-girlfriend and the tech CEO building a Viennese surveillance state –a man despised by the clientele. Everyone’s a suspect, especially Sterling. To clear her name, she’ll have to break the Orient’s sacred code of secrecy to find the guests, all while protecting her own secrets. If only she knew their real names.”
And here’s how she determinedly built the road to her success.
Despite living in Austria for the past seven years, Alessandra’s roots are across the Atlantic in Massachusetts, U.S.A. Her parents were big readers, and she worked her way through her father’s collection of leather-bound classics from the Franklin Library. This selection gave her the Sherlock Holmes stories, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Arabian Nights tales, to name a few.
“Some of the language was above my reading level so I read abridged versions, but I loved them all. I enjoyed Arabian Nights so much my mother decorated my bedroom in a matching theme! I adored the mystery, the conversational style, the magic and of course, the princesses.”
The start of her career was creative but not based in the literary world. At University she studied pastry arts and hospitality management. She worked as a pastry chef in the Washington D.C. area and in New York City before moving abroad, first to the Netherlands.
At this time, she was also doing storytelling and poetry performances, and worked up until she was paid for her readings. When her husband’s job moved to Vienna she joined him but had to cope with the marriage breaking down. After this, Alessandra had hoped to do a Masters in Dietetics and began studying chemistry while working as a pastry chef, applying for a prestigious dietetics program in the U.S.
Two and half years ago, her whole life was then turned on its head. In a few weeks her ex-husband was diagnosed with cancer, her boyfriend dumped her, she thought she’d been rejected from the Master’s course, and she was fired from her job.
After her last day at the job, she had a wild night that would later inspire her first novel.
“Whenever I have a terrible day, I always insist that one day it will be the start of a story I tell my grandchildren about triumph over disaster.”
She said: “I walked out with my head high, wearing a dress that demanded trouble!”
“I went alone to the iconic art deco Loos Bar in Vienna. Luckily, I’m very extrovert, so I met a host of weird and wonderful people. One was a flamboyant theatre director who ‘Invited me to the Hotel Orient’ - a polite code for asking me for a rendezvous. I’d heard whispers about the place. It had an historical reputation for hosting lovers from high society. They say the Kaiser took his mistresses there.
“I set hard boundaries with the man, and told him I wouldn’t sleep with him, but I was dying to see the hotel. We checked into room 5, and soaked our feet in the tub while the director told me stories of his life, and legends about the Hotel Orient. It was like stepping into an alternate reality. And there was a mild risk I might get murdered, which added to the inspiration for a mystery! He went to lay down in the bed, under the covers, when I saw he had removed his underwear and folded it beside him, I ran, with my shoes in my hands.”
On her way out, Alessandra talked to the receptionist while she put her shoes on, and the storyline began to take shape.
“I went home as the sun was rising, slept four hours, and woke up with a champagne headache and the idea for the book.”
She decided to make the concierge the main character and write a locked-room mystery novel. The idea felt different to any book she’d come across as it was old-fashioned but with modern twists and she sensed that her excitement was something readers would share.
She said: “I wasn’t sure how much to tell my dad, given the racy subject matter, but I called him and said, ‘Don’t get mad, I’m fine, but there’s this famous love hotel in Vienna and the other night, I went there… with a stranger.’ He groaned like he was thinking, ‘Where did I go wrong raising her?” Then I pitched him the idea: modern mystery, old-fashioned setting. I was considering writing the book instead of looking for new work right away. My mother died when I was 19, and I still had some money from her life-insurance to support me. But I wanted his blessing. Now, my dad is an Italian-American accountant, very tough-love and practical. I’ll never forget what he said. ‘Save your receipts! They’re going to be a tax deduction.’ That was a great vote of confidence.
She started writing the book, but then heard she’d been accepted onto that prestigious master’s course from the waiting list. She had to decide. “My gut said write the book.”
So Alessandra did take a year off work. There were some great successes from this point including winning the Blue Pencil Agency Pitch Prize for the first page and synopsis, which led to a meeting with an agent. This was followed by having an essay published about her relationship with her ex-husband, in the Modern Love section of the New York Times.
With the first draft finished, she tested the waters with her first queries to agents and got a lot of rejections as well as a bit of advice. She credits a kind rejection from the editor of Hard Case Crime with driving her to keep going. Her next step was to make connections, so she went to Harrogate for the Theakston’s Crime Writing Festival, which was a major investment.
“It was worth it.”
Alessandra had success in the Dragon’s Pen pitching competition which opened doors. She also met some fantastic authors and agents.
“Harrogate was life-changing. I won’t say too much for now, but I’ve been fortunate with my deals, and I’m working on a way to give that opportunity to other crime writers.”
On her return to Vienna, Alessandra wrote a second draft, using advice from the agents. She queried again, but it still wasn’t right. This time around she got mostly personalised rejections, and a few full requests.
Alessandra then invested in a line-edit for the early chapters, using her money from the New York Times article. But, after sending it to the editor, she had an epiphany and restructured the opening.
She realised she needed to clarify that, despite the golden age glamour, the book was set in 2023, and it had to be spelt out to ground the reader.
She said, “If you’re trying to be mysterious, make sure you’re not being confusing. I was also helped hugely by gaining the trust of the Hotel Orient’s owners, who let me use the rooms as a writing space, and by working as a receptionist at a traditional hotel for the past year.”
In her view the imagery makes the book shine. “To me, showing is often telling plus a sensory detail. The image in your mind is like a basket of fresh fruit, the sentence on the page should be what’s left after you have boiled that down into a jam. It will have a richer flavour, deeper colour, all the sweetness, and strength to last. The line-edit lengthened the opening chapters by about 15%, but every word counted.”
Alessandra found out she’d won a Jericho Writers pitch contest on the day after Valentine’s Day this year and then interest from agent’s began to grow, with three full requests within a week.
She said: “I knew my pitch was great, but there is no cheating the system. The writing has to be there. You must deliver a great book to get signed.”
At that point she had queried nearly 30 agents, and had four full requests. She knew this revision was the best she could offer without more advice.
“I was ready to give up. But that last revision changed everything.
“Instead of the usual cavernous echo of an empty inbox, my notifications went wild. Three queries turned into three full requests within 24 hours. I had saved a list of dream agents for the end, and it was clear now was the time. A friend notified me that Harry Illingworth, of DHH had just opened back up to submissions, so I emailed him and got a full request the same day.
Over the weekend, Alessandra sat down and queried the rest of her top 30 agents, out of a list of 120. This time, she got 26 full manuscript requests, and 10 of those were over the first weekend. Eventually, she earned 10 offers of representation.
After discussions Alessandra signed with Harry Illingworth in the UK as her main agent, and Lisa Gallagher in the US as her sub-agent. To meet their goal of going on submission before the summer publishing lull, Alessandra worked 12 to 15 hour days for six weeks to hone the edits, while still working as a receptionist.
“My agents allowed me to take some creative risks with marketing. Harry trusted me to run wild, and I trusted him to tell me when to dial things back. I had a lot of fun making graphics and trailers. To be clear, writers should not be expected to do this, but for those who enjoy it, why restrain creativity?”
Working with the dynamic agent duo, they went on submission to publishers in June, knowing if the book didn’t sell fast it might suffer in the summer doldrums of publishing.
They had the first offer within 24 hours.
Within a week, she had two pre-empt offers from who she describes as dream editors, Jade Chandler and Alison Callahan. Both were major two-book deals for Murder at the Hotel Orient, and the next stand-alone in the Sterling Lockwood Mysteries.
Her advice for other authors is: “Allow yourself to make mistakes such as querying too early. It’s okay not to know the book isn’t ready. Save your dream agents for last though! Complain in private, celebrate in public, and always cheer for other writers.”
On querying, she said: “Use a separate email for querying, to protect your mental health. Hone your pitch and your query as early as possible, and make sure your book delivers on the promise of the premise.
“Be yourself. I’ve always loved to wear red dresses and bright lipstick. I’m used to being underestimated because I’m flashy and feminine. People would approach me after readings and say, “Wow, you can really write! I wasn’t expecting that!” as if they assumed otherwise based on my appearance.”
The Stand-Up Mam has funny family stories in it. Do you have any to share?
“I’ve got a few, most about my mother. I once saw my her standing naked in the window, in full view of the neighbours, with binoculars over her eyes, and when I asked why she simply said, ‘I was watching the birds!’
“Another time my Dad was working for a company, and they ran some event with corporate branded condoms - my dad thought they were a terrible idea but he brought some home as a joke to show my mother. My parents left them in a bedroom drawer. One day they were fighting with each other as they had all gone missing and each wondered what the other was up to. Accusations were thrown. Turns out my brother had found them and was playing with them as if they were balloons.’